Halloween Surprise
by Lady Elena Dawson
Summary: It's Halloween 2026, and the Liars and their partners are in for a hectic night of trick or treating with their kids. Meanwhile, Aria and Spencer stay behind. A pre-Halloween treat of a one-shot.


**An early Halloween present to my readers because I don't update enough. This isn't my favorite one-shot _at all_, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. If I had the time I would have written something else than this for Halloween, but because I already have it written and people may enjoy it, I decided to post it on this glorious week before an epic holiday.**

**The children, in case you get confused:**

**Daisy Charlotte Fitz—five**

**Jeremy Atticus Fitz—two**

**Marianne Mae Cavanaugh—one**

**Keenan Marion Cavanaugh—four**

**Elle Elizabeth Rivers—five**

**Nate Jamie Rivers—two**

**Malia Fields (adopted from Philippines)—four**

* * *

><p><strong>Halloween Surprise<strong>

"Hold still," Spencer warned her squirming son as she took the black eyeliner to his forehead and scribbled a lightning bolt on the skin under his hairline. "There. Now let me just powder it so it stays."

Four-year-old Keenan made a frowny face and pointed to the little boy dressed like a cowboy sitting on his aunt's lap. "But mama," he whined, "I want to go play with Nate!"

"Just a second," Spencer said, followed by a drawn-out sigh. She placed the circular-rimmed glasses on his nose and smiled, pushing them farther up the bridge of his nose. As a final touch, she ruffled his chestnut hair. "Finished. Now you can go play."

As Keenan ran off and tugged on Hanna's pencil skirt to let two-year-old Nate off of her lap, Spencer grinned proudly at the Harry Potter costume she had made for her son. She and Toby had dug up the matching Gryffindor robes and scarves they had bought years ago for their love of the series and were now dressed as Ron and Hermione. Though it had taken an hour, Spencer was confident that her teased hair was a fluffy facsimile of Hermione's, and she had even taken a light brown, almost nude, eyeliner pencil and dotted Toby's cheeks with freckles for Ron. "Spencer?" Aria called from the kitchen, and Spencer entered the place with counters covered in three bowls of candy and trays of freshly baked cupcakes and cookies. The entire kitchen was a sugar load, and Spencer wasn't surprised to see most of the kids were huddled in between Toby and Aria's legs as they decorated the sweets.

Aria, who Spencer could have almost believed was Audrey Hepburn by her impressive replication of Holly's iconic costume from _Breakfast at Tiffany's_, was in the middle of embellishing a cupcake with black and white frosting—Spencer noted to herself to compliment Aria on her detail and efficiency with the decorations on the baked goods later while enjoying them, though she wasn't surprised considering the fact artistry ran in her family and she had found extra work at her mom and stepfather Zack's bakery while finishing graduate school—and her five-year-old daughter, Daisy, in a Dorothy Gale costume was tugging at her black, form-fitting dress repeating the word "mama" over and over again. Meanwhile, five-year-old Elle, in a sparkly blue dress with her blonde hair curled and styled on the top of her head to represent Cinderella's, was assaulting Toby with the words "Uncle Toby, Uncle Toby, Uncle Toby" and Spencer was surprised the two hadn't gone insane yet. Malia, a four-year-old Filipino girl who Emily had adopted when the child was only three weeks old, pranced between Aria and Toby, dancing in her Princess Jasmine costume while patiently waiting for one of them to possibly drop something sweet and edible. Two-year-old Jeremy Fitz—or Jem, as everyone called him—sat quietly on the floor away from the chaos while staring at pictures in one of Daisy's countless picture books. (Seriously, there have been occasions where Spencer had borrowed from the Fitz children's book collection because it was plentiful enough to be a library.)

"Can you herd the kids out of here?" Aria pleaded while reaching up to adjust the tiara on her neat, voluminous bun of hair and the pearl necklaces around her neck. She then pointed with her elbow to the long, velvety black gloves lying next to a bowl of homemade orange frosting. "And take my gloves too? I should have left them in the living room."

Though Aria looked strung out (the annual Halloween party was always held at her and Ezra's place since Halloween was her favorite holiday and she took it as a _huge _deal), Toby split a cookie with a smile on his face and handed a piece to each of the girls before offering the last piece to Jem. The little boy, oddly quiet compared to his gregarious sister yet a complete sweetheart, was dressed as a mini Dr. Frankenstein and accepted the cookie from Toby politely while a tiny smile appeared on his face.

"Okay, girls," Spencer said while clapping her hands together. "You got a small treat. Now let's go to the living room. We'll be going trick or treating soon!" As she hustled together Daisy, Elle, and Malia, she scooped Jem into her arms and followed the little chatty girls into the living room.

"Wait," Aria called out, and Spencer turned around. After scolding Toby for dawdling instead of sprinkling the pumpkin-shaped cookies with orange sugar, she looked back at Spencer anxiously. "Can you leave Jem in here please?"

A couple months ago before he turned two, Jem was diagnosed with a sickly, though treatable, disease that had kept him up all night with a wet cough and a fever. It was because of that experience, Spencer was certain, that Jem wasn't as lively as Daisy. Though he was practically one-hundred-percent better now, despite a couple coughing fits, Aria worried whenever he wasn't in her sight.

Toby piped up and said, "Jem will be fine, Aria. Ezra's in the living room, and so are Hanna, Caleb, and Emily."

"And me," Spencer pointed out. "I'll watch him with hawk eyes. I promise."

Aria chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds, watching her son nibble on the cookie piece Toby had given him, before putting her hands up in defeat. "Fine. Never mind." As Spencer walked away, she heard Aria berate Toby, "Why are you putting the black sprinkles on the pumpkin cookies?"

"Because it adds character," Toby defended himself, and Aria just shook her head without another word.

The chaos continued in the living room as Spencer handed Jem to Ezra, who looked very dashing in his 1940's Paul Varjak-inspired suit, and avoided tripping over Keenan and Nate, who were playing with their dinosaur toys. Aria and Ezra had chosen to dress as Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak not just because the movie was a classic, but because the movie couple had had one of the most romantic rain kisses in cinema history. Unfortunately, Spencer noted to the couple before, there was no chance of rain this Halloween night, though it would have been interesting to see them re-enact that movie scene while all the kids went "ew."

Spencer almost jumped out of her skin as she successfully grabbed a crawling Marianne, her one-year-old daughter, before she was in the middle of the little boy's play.

"Close one," Caleb commented while he wrapped an arm around Hanna and tilted his fedora. The two had dressed up as Bonnie and Clyde, surprising everyone, who was certain Hanna wanted to go as Juliet Capulet or Marilyn Monroe _again. _

"Yeah, well, this one crawls everywhere. It's almost like I need to put her in one of those kid leashes just so I don't have to worry about her hurting herself," Spencer said while plopping the baby between her and Ezra. Marianne gazed up at Jem curiously, except Jem failed to acknowledge her and instead was flipping through another picture book.

"What if he's really understanding that but you just don't know?" Hanna said, interlocking her fingers with Caleb's.

Emily as Pocahontas for the second time in her life returned from the bathroom just as Ezra responded, "Because we ask him a thousand times a day if he could read to us and his response is a clueless stare all the time."

"But maybe he's keeping it a secret," Hanna retorted as Emily awkwardly stood next to the couch Hanna and Caleb were occupying, since Spencer had taken her spot.

"Hanna, he's two," Emily said. "Daisy can only read a few words and recite the alphabet, though she likes to pretend she can read sentences, and she's five."

"Well, _maybe,_" Hanna argued, "he's a genius kid."

"I'm betting on that," Aria said as she plopped onto the couch's arm next to Ezra and tugged the gloves on her recently washed hands, the empty cigarette holder clamped between her teeth.

While Toby took the couch's arm next to Spencer, Spencer asked jokingly, "Did you learn anything new about baking today?"

"Yeah," Toby scoffed. "Aria is _very specific_ about it."

"Black pumpkins," she said in singsong as she picked up Jem and placed him on her lap, "don't exist."

"It's called 'creativity.'"

"It's called 'my house.'"

"Okay, okay," Hanna broke up the argument, though it was all in light-hearted fun. "Are we done with the baking? Because we have some hyped-up kids wanting to go trick or treating."

When she heard the words "trick or treating," Daisy looked up from her playdate with Malia and Elle, clicked her red ruby slippers together, and widened her blue-green eyes. "Are we going trick or treating?" she asked excitedly.

Keenan joined in and impatiently said, "Are we going _now_?"

"Yes!" Emily exclaimed. "Everyone get their shoes on!"

There was a chorus of kids screaming, "Yay!" as Toby, Caleb, Hanna, and Emily aided the kids in putting their shoes on, since they were so discombobulated by excitement they couldn't do it themselves.

Daisy, already in her red shoes, ran up to Aria, her two braids flying behind her shoulders. "Mommy, can Jem come too?" She used her perfected puppy-dog face, pouting her lips and batting her eyes.

"I don't know…," Aria muttered hesitantly. "He's—"

"Aria," Spencer interrupted her. "He's fine."

"I know, I know, it's just—" Right at that moment, Jem let out a slightly wet cough to prove her point. "It's…it's chilly outside."

"I'll make sure he always has his coat on," Ezra said, coaxing Aria to give up Jem. "And I won't let him out of my sight, and if his cough gets worse I'll take him straight home."

But Aria was still reluctant. "Let him have fun, Aria," Spencer said. "He'll only be confused seeing all the kids leave without him going with them."

Daisy pouted her lips even more. "_Pleeeease_, Mommy? I'll hold his hand and I won't steal his candy."

Slowly and uncertainly, Aria handed Jem to Ezra, who helped Jem put his coat on. "We're going trick or treating, bud," he said while the little boy grinned widely. "Trick or treating?" the two-year-old repeated.

"Put him down, Daddy," Daisy complained and jumped up and down. "Don't you want to walk with me, Jem?"

As everyone except Aria and Spencer huddled around the front door, counting heads and checking everything, Toby, with Marianne's pudgy arms thrown around his neck, came out of the crowd.

"No peanuts," Spencer reminded him. "And be back by eight."

"How can I forget?" Toby said, referring to the terrifying moment Keenan had had an allergic reaction to peanuts and neither of them had known he had any allergies. Leaning down, he kissed her on the cheek. "Where's my wand?"

Spencer smirked and reached into her robe pockets, pulling out a replica of Ron's wand along with another replica of Hermione's. "And give this to Keenan," she said, also handing Toby Harry's wand. "He looks too absorbed in conversation with Daisy to realize he doesn't have it, but he'll notice later."

The parents and kids trickled out the door, leaving Spencer and Aria, who were going to be handing out candy while being the first to munch on the baked treats, behind. "So," Spencer said while Aria stared rather intensely at her plastic cigarette holder. "Want to talk about each other's sex lives?"

"What?" Aria stammered, breaking out of her stare and looking wide-eyed at Spencer.

Spencer laughed at Aria's reaction. "I took initiative to snap you out of that trance of yours," she explained. "And it worked."

Aria stood up and placed the cigarette holder on the table, meanwhile picking up the children's book Jem was flipping through. By the way she looked at it, Spencer knew exactly what was bothering her. "Do you really not trust anyone with Jem, Aria?" she prodded in order to help her best friend relax. "Because I'm pretty sure you at least trust Ezra."

"I trust all of you. I just…want to be there if anything bad happens."

Spencer cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You don't see him when you're at work five days a week. What's different about now?"

Aria shrugged and placed the picture book on top of a stack of other children's books. "Maybe I'm more attached than I think I am."

Spencer parted her lips, ready to berate Aria for spending so much time on maternity leave instead of heeding her advice for taking only six months, but the doorbell rang, and they had to move. While Aria grabbed a bowl of candy, Spencer opened the door and fawned over all the kids' cute costumes. After handing them each a few pieces, Spencer gave each child one more compliment about their costumes and closed the door. However, she was surprised to turn around and find Aria in tears as she set the bowl down on the side table.

Gulping, Spencer said with a strained voice, "Okay. What just happened?"

Aria looked up at her friend and pulled her into an unexpected hug. Though she wasn't exactly audibly crying, there were streams of tears dripping down her cheeks she had to wipe away. "Aria," Spencer whispered while setting her friend down on the couch and handing her a tissue. Sitting next to her, she rubbed her back comfortingly. "Is something going on?"

Sniffling, Aria dabbed at her cheeks, trying not to ruin her makeup, and mumbled, "I'm sorry for being so snappy with Toby about the baking before. It's just…" She paused and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself a bit more. "I want to show you something. Wait here a minute."

And obediently, Spencer waited anxiously, watching Aria smooth out the creases in her dress as she went upstairs.

Meanwhile, Keenan and Daisy were skipping slightly ahead of the group with their arms linked, Daisy leading them in a rendition of "We're Off to See the Wizard." "We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz! We hear he is a whiz of a wiz if ever a wiz there was!" they belted, their skipping so intense a couple pieces of candy flew out of his jack-o-lantern basket and her straw basket with a stuffed Toto inside.

Behind them, Elle as Cinderella and Malia as Jasmine were already searching through their candy and switching them with each other. "Banana Laffy Taffy?" Elle asked as Malia handed her a mini Snickers bar and accepted Elle's taffy offer. "Orange Tootsie Roll pop?" Malia displayed the treat while Elle rummaged in her bag and pulled out a blue candy. "Blue Raspberry Jolly Rancher?" Again, they switched, and it kept going like that the rest of the night in between houses.

Spencer gazed into her hand mirror and fluffed her hair a bit more, wondering what was taking Aria so long. Eventually Aria padded back down the stairs with a drugstore plastic bag in her hand, and she was shaking from nerves. "I took this today," she said while handing something plastic to Spencer.

As soon as Spencer felt it in her hands, she knew what it was. She'd taken this exact test two times before, and she flipped it over to reveal the pink plus sign. "Oh, Aria—," she started, but Aria interrupted her.

"And these." She took out four more tests, each one positive. "And that's why I've been so emotional and clingy and irritable lately."

Blinking, Spencer was shocked, to say the least. "This," she stammered, holding up the pregnancy test, "this isn't _bad_, Aria. This is _great_. More than great, even. It's amazing!"

With another sniffle, Aria shrugged and crossed her arms. "I-I just thought two kids were enough, but this…" She glanced down at the ground and rubbed her wet nose with a tissue. "This wasn't planned."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Is it ever?" she said with a laugh, referring to her two kids who were both exciting surprises. But Aria was still moping over being surprised, so Spencer opened her arms. "Come here."

Accepting the hug, Aria placed her chin on Spencer's shoulder and wondered why she had to be so dramatic about everything. Spencer rubbed her back soothingly and squeezed her tightly. "It's okay, Aria. I understand. I've been through it, too. _Twice._"

"I'm sorry," Aria apologized while separating from the embrace to grab another tissue. "About Toby, about Jem, about me for the past few days. It's just…everything's so heightened, you know, and Ezra, we're so settled with Daisy and Jem, what if this—"

"Don't worry about Ezra," Spencer said reassuringly. "He's not going to be mad. I promise."

"I'm sorry," Aria murmured again, and Spencer held her again.

"You don't have to be sorry," Spencer said. "Because I _know,_ Aria. I know."

"It's almost eight," Emily reminded the adults of the group as they kept watch on the still hyper kids running to the next house. "We should start heading back."

Toby adjusted Marianne more comfortably on his shoulder; the one-year-old had fallen asleep the moment they stepped outside, not yet understanding the excitement of Halloween. "We're probably going to be a little late."

"Oh no," Ezra mumbled. "Aria's going to kill us."

"No she won't," Hanna scoffed, then seriously said, "Though you might be sleeping on the couch tonight."

Jem, who had only coughed twice the past couple hours, squirmed in Ezra's arms, exclaiming, "I want to go with Daisy now!" Cautiously Ezra set him down and he bolted, his little legs carrying him as fast as he could to catch up with the others.

At that moment, Caleb yawned. "I don't know, Ezra," he said while rubbing his eyes. "I think _I _might be the one sleeping on your couch tonight."

"Caleb," Hanna whined. "It's not even eight yet!"

"Well, we're not eighteen anymore, we're thirty-three with young kids. None of us should be surprised by my fatigue."

Everyone murmured in agreement and the kids came running from the last house with more candy. At one point Jem tripped, but Nate and Keenan helped him back up while Daisy said loudly, "Do you want some lollipops, Jem?" then turned around and exclaimed, "Oh no! _Jem_!"

The group headed back, Jem immediately squeezing back into Ezra's arms after his not-so-fun fall, and reached the house at 8:10.

"Here it goes," Ezra groaned as he opened the door and exclaimed excitedly, "We're back! Take out the wine!" as though they weren't late and instead a minute early.

"Can I have wine, Daddy?" Keenan asked innocently, and everyone laughed, Spencer and Aria included. But Aria still had puffy eyes, so she nonchalantly got off the couch and slipped into the kitchen, rounding the corner to the nearest bathroom.

As the kids fawned over their candy winnings, Toby put the baked goods he'd helped Aria decorate onto two plates and carried them to the living room, the adults cheering as he had a bottle of white wine under one arm and a bottle of red wine under another. "To surviving the night!" he proclaimed while Ezra went to get glasses from the kitchen cupboard.

In the kitchen, Ezra rummaged for the wine glasses, which were pushed far back into the cabinet since it was a luxury they'd forgotten about once Daisy was born, and was trying to juggle them all when Aria emerged from the bathroom, rubbing her nose for one last time.

"Hey," he said softly as she swallowed inaudibly. "How were the trick o' treaters?"

Aria put a smile on her face and prayed her eyes weren't bloodshot under the kitchen lighting. "The usual crowd. Nothing unusual. And you?"

"Everyone lasted except Mari." Aria came over and took half the glasses from him, avoiding his eyes. "I should have recorded it, but Keenan and Daisy were singing songs from _The Wizard of Oz _the _whole _time."

At that sweet thought, Aria's grin softened to something more genuine. "I'll have to go next year. But that means you'll probably be stuck with Toby." They headed towards the living room.

"I've handled worse," he joked, though his tone of voice made it seem serious.

Before joining the crowd, Aria stopped him and sighed deeply. "Ezra, we need to talk." She then clarified, "Later."

"Okay," he said, slightly confused and concerned. "After everyone leaves and the kids go to bed?"

Aria nodded. "Yeah," she whispered, and pushed past him to their friends.

As Toby and Ezra poured the wine, alarms went off in Spencer's head as Aria accepted a drink reluctantly. "Actually," she sputtered out. "I don't feel like wine. I think I'll have some water." She stood up and Toby halted from pouring her a drink. "Anyone else want some?"

"Um," Aria muttered, laughing weakly and standing up. "I'll have some, too." She handed her drink to Hanna. "Here."

The two went to the kitchen where Spencer took out two normal glasses and filled them with water. "Thank you," Aria said breathily while taking large gulps of the cool tap water.

"I'm awarding myself, too," Spencer said and refilled her glass. "I was scared I was going to blurt out something stupid."

After returning to the gathering, the parents noticed their kids were nodding off one by one, and that meant it was time for everyone to go. Spencer and Toby stayed behind a bit longer to help Aria and Ezra clean up, but Aria kept shooting Spencer glances which Spencer instinctively picked up on. "We should go," Spencer told Toby as she picked up Marianne.

"Are you sure?" Toby said. "Because there's still—"

"No, no. I'm sure," Spencer convinced him. "Marianne and Keenan really need their beds and not the couch."

Toby shrugged his shoulders coolly and picked up a sleeping Keenan, grunting a bit by how heavy the boy had gotten. It felt like yesterday that he had only been seven pounds. "Good night, guys," he said as the couple headed towards the door.

"Thanks for helping out with the cleaning," Ezra called back as Toby unlocked the car and buckled Keenan in, waving to Ezra and saying, "No problem! We should get together over beer some time."

Spencer turned around outside the porch and stared into Aria's wide, hazel eyes, flowing with many emotions. "Call me later," she whispered and then winked, prompting Aria to smile slightly. "Things will be great."

After Aria shut the door, she locked it and turned around, watching Ezra wrap the extra cookies in plastic wrap before blurting out, "About what I have to say…"

Feeling sleepy herself, Spencer finished buckling Marianne into her seat and climbed into the passenger seat. As Toby started the car, Spencer noticed she could see the outlines of Aria and Ezra's shadows through the curtains. It looked as though Aria was telling him something, and by the way Ezra quickly hugged her, Spencer knew what she had said.

Once on the street, Toby glanced a few times at Spencer, noting the wisp of a grin on her lips. "What are you so blissfully happy about?"

Spencer bit her lip and propped her forehead on the cool glass of the window. "What would you say," she said thoughtlessly, "about one more sibling for Keenan and Marianne?"

Toby was taken aback by Spencer's bluntness. "Uh, well," he stammered, "I would say we should think about this more—"

"But we never think," Spencer said, leaning away from the window and closer to him. She propped her chin on his shoulder and batted her eyes at him, and Toby had to fight all of his urges (after all, there were kids in the car) to pull over right now. "Now, what was it you were saying?"

"Okay, yeah," he agreed, just like that. "Let's do it."

Spencer smirked. _Another accomplishment by Spencer Hastings,_ she thought. Leaning back into her chair, she crossed her arms proudly at her chest. "That's what I thought you said."

* * *

><p><strong>I wrote this a while ago and everything just kind of flowed out. Though typically when I write future stories, no one has more than two kids, but this just happened. It came to me late at night. I tried to make it pure fluff but then the emotional Sparia just poured out. I couldn't help myself.<strong>


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